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Metro North West line
Metro North West Line is a railway line operated by Sydney Metro in Sydney, from Chatswood to Tallawong. It will be the first operational rapid transit line in the entirety of Australia, and will begin services on 26th May 2019. https://transportnsw.info/travel-info/ways-to-get-around/sydney-metro-opening-26-may It will be the only Metro line in Sydney until 2024, when the Sydney Metro City & Southwest line is projected to open. The line will run from Chatswood, an already built heavy rail station and Tallawong station, a newly built station. The line will consist of 13 stations, including 8 new stations (Cherrybrook, Castle Hill, Hills Showground, Norwest, Bella Vista, Kellyville, Rouse Hill and Tallawong). To make way for the new line, a new timetable has been announced that commenced from 28th April 2019. The timetable includes a new Sydney Trains line, the T9 Northern Linehttps://transportnsw.info/service-adjustments-2019. The line will be serviced by 6-carriage driverless single-deck Alstom Metropolis sets. Sydney-metro-north-westLogo.png|Sydney Metro Northwest Logo History Planning for Sydney Metro Northwest, previously known as the North West Rail Link was a long and complicated affair. The was originally announced, then cancelled several times in the 1990's. There were also differing plans as to how the line would integrate into the rest of the network. Proposals for the line by the NSW Government over the years included connection to Beecroft on the existing Northern Line with City services running via Rhodes or by the Epping-Chatswood Rail Link, a main heavy rail line connecting to the Epping-Chatswood Rail Link, a rapid transit line from the northwest region to the city via the Inner West, and the ultimately chosen plan of a rapid transit line connecting to the ECRL which would be modified in order to run the fully automated trains. By June 2015, media releases from Transport for NSW dubbed the line as the "North West Rail Link" to address the line from Rouse Hill to Chatswood. On 4th June 2015, the Premier of New South Wales Mike Baird, and Minister for Transport Andrew Constance announced the line's renaming from Sydney Rapid Transit to the current name of Sydney Metro. In conjunction with the renaming, the North West Rail Link was subsequently rebranded as Sydney Metro Northwest, which will run from 8 new stations, along the modified ECRL to Chatswood. In 2024, the line will extend from Chatswood to a further 6 new stations (Crows Nest, Victoria Cross, Barangaroo, Martin Place, Pitt Street, Central and Waterloo) before continuing to Bankstown via the existing Bankstown Line corridor between Sydenham and Bankstown, which will be converted and modified to accommodate the new system. The ECRL line from Epping to Chatswood ceased operation of existing Sydney Trains services on 30th September 2018, after the final service run by Tangara T sets T53 and T74. Until the opening of Sydney Metro Northwest, passengers from Chatswood, North Ryde, Macquarie Park, Macquarie University and Epping are being serviced by Station Link, a feeder bus service jointly operated by Transdev and Hillsbus. On 28th April 2019, in order to accommodate the opening of Sydney Metro Northwest, new timetables for the Western Line, renumbering of the Northern Line to T9, extra North Shore Line services to be on par with Metro service frequency, and alterations to three Metrobus bus routes to drop the M prefix from route numbers to avoid confusion, will commence. The first of Sydney Metro's driverless Alstom Metropolis sets completed their full run from Tallawong to Chatswood on 14th January 2019. Route The Sydney Metro Northwest line runs from Chatswood to Epping, along the former Epping-Chatswood Rail Link, before continuing to 8 new Metro-exclusive stations - Cherrybrook, Castle Hill, Hills Showground, Norwest, Bella Vista, Kellyville, Rouse Hill and Tallawong. The twin tunnels running from Epping to Kellyville are currently the longest rail tunnels in Sydney, as well as the deepest, being placed 67m below street level. These tunnels are much deeper than the floor of Sydney Harbour, as well as the City Circle tunnels at St James station. The Sydney Metro train stabling yard will be located at Tallawong Road in Rouse Hill, near Tallawong station. The new stations on the Metro Northwest route will have 3,000 parking spaces across multiple carparks. Kiss and ride spaces, and bicycle parking spots will also be provided near the stations. Each station will also include wheelchair accessible lifts for easy access to all customers. Services on the Metro North West Line are scheduled to run every 5 minutes during the peak, and every 10 minutes outside of the peak. The Metro North West Line will be jointly operated by MTR Corporation, John Holland and UGL Rail. In the first six months of operations, the metro service will also be supplemented by a late night bus service known as the North West Night Bus network, stopping at 13 bus stops within close proximity to the Metro North West stations. The bus service operates Sunday to Wednesday nights after about 9.30 pm in both directions, charging metro fares and frequency of every 10 minutes.This is because during this period, the last metro services on these nights are 10.05 pm from Chatswood and 9.25 pm from Tallawong. The bus service is temporary and will be withdrawn after six months in late 2019, when the metro reaches full operations. The bus service is jointly operated by Transdev NSW and Hillsbus, both of whom previously jointly operated the Station Link services from Epping to Chatswood between September 2018 and May 2019. Controversy The Sydney Metro network has not been without its fair share of criticism, namely from Michelle Byrne, the Mayor of Hills Shire Council. Dr Byrne criticised the Sydney Metro Northwest route for not being connected to the forthcoming Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek, as well as not being directly connected with Schofields station on the existing Sydney Trains network, as Tallawong station is located 3km east of Schofields. She also believed that extending the line to Badgerys Creek also would have allowed the route to travel through Marsden Park, which is a huge industrial and commercial centre of Western Sydney. The NSW Government also announced that some bus routes connecting the north-west suburbs with the Sydney CBD (including the commonly-used Hillsbus route 607X from Rouse Hill to the CBD) may cease operation in favour of being replaced by feeder buses serving to Sydney Metro stations, in a possible attempt to force customers to use the Sydney Metro system. This has not gone down well with some customers who regularly use these buses as a crucial method of transport to the city, as research has shown that trips from the northwest will take longer on a combination of bus and Sydney Metro rather than going by bus alone. The Sydney Metro's use of single-deck automated trains also attracted criticism, namely from those who say that the existing Sydney Trains double-deck fleet would provide more seated passengers per hour, as passengers prefer being comfortably seated on longer journeys. A major rebuttal to the claim is the bench-styled longitudinal seating on the Sydney Metro trains, often citing the excuse that other rapid transit systems around the world have used this seating format on trains, claiming that it allows faster loading and unloading of passengers. In instance of journeys with shorter trips where most passengers hop on and hop off, bench seating allows passengers to stand and exit from the seat more easily, and providing more standing room in the carriage. Documents have also revealed that warnings have been made to the NSW Government about the inconvenience of Sydney Metro Northwest passengers being forced to change with existing Sydney Trains services at Chatswood, while the construction for Sydney Metro City & Bankstown is ongoing. The NSW Greens' spokesperson for transport, Mehreen Faruqi, also criticised the passenger-carrying capacity of the Sydney Metro network. After a man clinged onto the power lines at Redfern station on 18th April 2019, causing mass delays across the whole Sydney Trains network as result of the power having to be cut, activist organisation group EcoTransit https://m.facebook.com/EcoTransit/, who heavily opposes the Sydney Metro network, further raised concerns over Sydney Metro Northwest, worrying that if a power cut was to happen, passengers would be forced to walk the entire length of the skytrain bridge between Tallawong and Bella Vista, or the 6km long tunnel between Epping and Cherrybrook. The size dimensions of the new tunnels also raised concern as they may not provide enough space for passengers, particularly those with disabilities, to evacuate in an emergency, due to the only emergency exit provided being on the very front and rear of the train. Stations |} References Gallery MetroTallawongStation.jpg|Tallawong MetroRouseHillStation.jpg|Rouse Hill MetroKellyvilleStation.jpg|Kellyville MetroBellaVistaStation.jpg|Bella Vista MetroNorwestStation.jpg|Norwest MetroHillsShowgroundStation.jpg|Hills Showground MetroCastleHillStation.jpg|Castle Hill MetroCherrybrookStation.jpg|Cherrybrook Metronorthwest.png|Metro North West Route Trivia * During the construction process and on Sydney Trains network maps before it was renamed, Tallawong station was referred to as "Cudgegong Road", due to the station's location near Cudgegong Road at Rouse Hill. Tallawong's name comes from Tallawong Road, which is also near the station. Hills Showground station was also originally called "Showground". * The leaf-shaped structures holding up the giant glass canopies that are placed above Cherrybrook, Castle Hill, Hills Showground, Norwest, Bella Vista and Tallawong stations are based on bluegum leaves. Bella Vista also has a second canopy. External Links * https://www.sydneymetro.info/northwest/project-overview * https://www.sydneymetro.info/northwest/skytrain * https://www.sydneymetro.info/northwest/construction-overview * https://www.sydneymetro.info/map/sydney-metro-interactive-train-map Category:Railway Lines Category:Sydney Metro